After weeks of looking into the many submissions, petitions and papers presented before it by various stakeholders and other concerned persons and groups, the reconciliation and fact-finding committee on the crises in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state is expected to submit its report to the national leadership of the party next week.
This is according to very reliable sources at the National Secretariat of APC in Abuja. The Nation learnt that the committee, which is chaired by Prince Tony Momoh, former Chairman of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and a similar committee set up to look into the crisis within the party in Bauchi State, under the chairmanship of Senator Chris Ngige, have both been directed to turn in their report immediately.
Other members of Kogi State are John Shagaya, Barnabas Gemade, Ahmed Aboki and Olubunmi Adetunbi. The National Chairman of the APC, Chief Odigie-Oyegun, while speaking at the inauguration of the committee, said, “It is clear that in a few of our states, we have fairly serious issues to contend with – Kogi, Bauchi and to some extent in Kano.”
“The party’s National Working Committee decided to select some of the very best that we have to help us unravel the problems in these states and also make serious reconciliation efforts. Kogi is an equally very challenging assignment in the sense that it has a history behind it. The circumstances that led to the emergence of the Governor of Kogi State has also to be considered a factor.
“The unfortunate manner of the transition of the leader in that state also has a bearing on it. So it is not only an emotional situation, it is also a highly sensitive situation that you are going to confront. It also has very serious implications of party discipline in Kogi because we have the unusual situation of a party pitting itself against its own government.”
According to findings by our correspondent, the decision to have the committees turn in their reports as soon as possible may not be unconnected with what the leadership of the party consider as the festering of bad bloods amongst party chieftains in the two states. “Stories emanating from Kogi state about how our party men and women are engaging themselves in needless confrontations are worrisome,” a party source said.
“And considering the fact that these committees were put in place weeks back, the leadership of the party decided to have the reports submitted and looked into with a view to seeing whether the efforts of the committee can help us in putting an end to the crises engulfing the state. APC is not prepared to lose the state to the opposition under any circumstance,” he added.
The Nation also gathered that fresh petitions and complaints emanating from the state may have prompted the urgent call on the Tony Momoh committee to turn in its report. According to party sources, the leadership realized the need to urgently address the festering crises in the state before they get out of hand.
“There is urgent need to address the festering division within the party in Kogi state. Our people have long expected the national leadership to do something drastic to nip the situation in the bud with no respite coming their way. Trust in the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been declining in Kogi State since the beginning of the crises within the state chapter,” a party official from the state said.
With the report, the party is hoping to be able to embark on a drastic fence mending exercise within the troubled state chapter. According to reliable sources, the national leadership of the APC may even be forced to wield the big stick against party chieftains and other stakeholders who may refused to accept the peace process it intend to initiate.
“What we have in mind is a total peace package that will see the party in Kogi state returning to its united ways. We are hoping to benefit immensely from the report of the Tony Momoh committee given that it has met with most of the people involved in the various crises engulfing the state. However, the party may move agains those who try to make peace impossible this time,” he added.
Hard nuts to crack?
Even as the report is being expected, not a few analysts are worried that the crises in Kogi APC may yet prove hard nuts to crack for the national leadership of the ruling party. This is because the warring factions in the state are not showing signs of readiness to embrace peace anytime soon. This, many fear, may hinder the planned peace process.
Of concern to many observers is the worrisome development that saw the Governor of the state, Yahaya Bello and a member of House of Representative from Lagos state, James Faleke, disagreeing publicly on the crisis rocking the Kogi state chapter of the ruling party. Faleke was the running mate to the late flag-bearer of the party in the 2015 governorship election, Abubakar Audu.
Faleke had last week admitted, while addressing journalists at the end of a stakeholders meeting held at National Secretariat that there is internal wrangling in the party but declined to comment further when asked to do so. But barely 72 hours after Faleke’s statement , Governor Bello stated that there is no any crisis whatsoever in the party.
Bello, who was responding to questions from newsmen when he also visited National Secretariat insisted that the party is intact. He said, “APC Kogi state is intact, strong and solid behind me and I am here in the headquarters today to discuss family matters and it went on very smoothly. I came here to discuss the progress of our party, the administration and progress in Kogi state.”
Party sources said the differences in the positions of the two frontline gladiators reflect their submission before the Momoh committee. “The lack of readiness for peace on the part of some of the gladiators proved a serious challenge for the committee while it was at the task given to it. It is worrisome that some of our leaders believe they can thrive without peace and unity,” a source said.
Acknowledging the visitation of the committee to the state, Governor Bello however said, “The committee came and all of us in the state met before the committee and all discussed family matters and it went very well. Kogi state has never been peaceful as it is today under my leadership. The state has never been that secured as it is today under my leadership and we are bound for one indivisible Kogi state.”
But a chieftain of the party who also appeared before the committee faulted the Governor’s position while noting that “the cruel lopsidedness in appointments, which is deliberately skewed against the Audu/Faleke supporters, might be the party’s greatest albatross in the 2019 elections. He urged then national leadership of the party to disregard Bello’s submissions and make peace within the party.
“The APC in Kogi is now more divided than ever,” he stated wondering whether a house divided against itself can ever stand? He added that the implications of the unfortunate developments following the controversial emergence of Bello and the continued lopsidedness in the governor’s appoint, to the party could better be imagined, if not urgently addressed.
He further expressed dismay with at the manner the governor is running the government of the state, claiming Bello is on a mission to frustrate members of Audu’s political family out of the party at all cost. He said, “the continued victimization of patriotic and loyal members of the APC who actually campaigned and won the governorship seat, which Bello got on a platter of gold, is saddening.
As I speak with you, I can tell you that not a single federal appointment has been extended to the Audu/Faleke team by the party. Rather, all the appointments go to cronies of the governor. And sadly, these are people who knew next to nothing as to the energy and toil we put into the campaigns that won governorship seat in November 2015.”
Also, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Dino Melaye, one of the key figures in the crises ravaging the Kogi state chapter of the APC, introduced a worrisome dimension into the feud when he said recently that if another election is to be conducted today in the state, he will vote for a former governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Wada, against the incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello.
Bello, a member of the APC defeated Wada of the PDP during the concluding part of the Kogi gubernatorial election held last year. Melaye, who is of the same party with Governor Bello, had been at loggerhead with the governor. The Senator, who spoke at the launching of a book he wrote titled: ‘Antidotes for corruption: The Nigerian Story,’ had served as the chairman of the transition committee of Governor Bello, but their relationship deteriorated soon after the handing over.
According to Melaye, who recently accused some functionaries of the state government, especailly Hon. Taofiq Isa, chairman of the state’s chapter of Assocation of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), of plotting to assassinate him, “If you put him (Wada) alongside Yahaya Bello today, I will vote for Wada. At least throughout his tenure, we did not agree but he never attempted to assassinate me. If you speak the truth, you will die and if you lie, you will die. I, Dino Melaye, have decided to speak the truth.”
But the State Secretary of the APC, Barr. Tom Adejoh, is optimistic that respite is on the way for the party in Kogi state, going by the good job done by the Momoh committee. The party scribe explained that his confidence emanates from the fact that the National Assembly and state assembly caucuses of the party had made their submissions to the committee.
He added that the state’s APC executives, party stakeholders and other interested parties, such as Governor Bello and the former deputy governorship candidate, James Abiodun Faleke, as well as the late Prince Abubakar Audu’s political family, had also made their submissions to the econciliation and fact finding committee.
Adejoh, who also expressed confidence in the calibre of personalities that handled the assignment, however, urged the national chairman of the party, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, to ensure that recommendations of the committee were implemented.
“If you set up a committee and nothing comes out of it at the end of the day, of what use would that be? The national secretariat should ensure full implementation of the recommendations for lasting peace in our party,” Adejoh said.
Credit: Nation
